Optical devices, including infrared detection and emitting devices, are often fabricated using integrated circuit fabrication techniques. Some devices, typically bolometer devices, are packaged at the wafer level with a wafer level package (WLP). This includes a substrate with one or more active elements, such as detecting or emitting elements, read-out integrated circuitry, and a transmissive cover that seals one or more of these structures. The cover may be sealed via a seal structure, such as a seal ring. The substrate and cover may be aligned and soldered together to seal them together. The active elements are thus disposed within a hermetically sealed cavity that protects them from damage from humidity, temperature, and other environmental forces that degrade device performance.
A spatial light modulator (SLM) may be optically coupled to the packaged optical device to form an image projection system. For example, infrared (IR) imaging sensors are capable of imaging from an image of received light in a range of infrared wavelengths. Testing of these sensors may require controlled generation of simulated, yet realistic scenes that can be produced in a controlled environment, such as a laboratory or testing facility. Conventional systems for creating infrared scenes may include arrays of small resistors which are made to glow from the heat induced by an electric current applied to them and/or may use liquid crystal devices to modulate a beam of infrared radiation. These types of systems typically only have the ability to control spectral content and intensity by varying the temperature of each pixel, resulting in only black body spectral content. Further, these systems also fail to offer per-pixel control of spectral content and other optical effects, such as polarization.